Brentview Investment Management LLC Invests $3.04 Million in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Brentview Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 32,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,037,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WEC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,680,000 after buying an additional 25,975,652 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,794,000 after buying an additional 4,691,017 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 102.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $362,971,000 after buying an additional 1,912,223 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $462,276,000 after buying an additional 699,177 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 57.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,900,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,765,000 after buying an additional 695,317 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 over the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE WEC opened at $99.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $102.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.9 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.66%.

About WEC Energy Group

WEC Energy Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides regulated natural gas and electricity, and renewable and nonregulated renewable energy services in the United States. It operates through Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, and Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure segments.